Running Away From Pain
by ASaintNamedJimmy
Summary: Jaune was a loser, there wasn't anyway to put it lightly, and after one act pushes him too far, he leaves home for a life away from his pain. Years later, Yang runs into Jaune and wants to make things right. Yang quickly finds out, that much like herself, Jaune has changed. And Jaune finds out, that as much as he would like to, he can't out-run his pain. Band!AU
1. Chapter 1

Jaune pushed his way through the hallway, head lowered, bumping shoulders with the students he passed.

"Watch it, loser" spat one of the boys he bumped into.

"S-sorry" Jaune quickly apologised

"Wait a second, you're that loser that no one likes, the one Yang's looking for" the boy realised, staring at the back of Jaune's head.

The blonde stopped in his tracks. 'shit' he thought 'he recognised me'

The tall boy turned around, his hands coming to the sides of his mouth "Hey Yang! I found that nerd you're looking for!" he called up the hallway.

soon enough, a long mop of blonde hair came marching down the hall way

"H-hey Yang" Jaune greeted

Yang's hands shot out and grabbed Jaune by the collar of his shirt, slamming him against the lockers

"Jaune, you thought you could avoid me?" came the immediate question

"What? n-"

"Don't lie to me asshole!" Yang tightened her grip on his collar "did you get my work done?" came the second question

Jaune lowered his head, only for Yang to forcefully raise it by slamming his head against the locker.

"Did you get my work done?" the asked again

"N-no" came the meek response from Jaune

Yang then pulled him out from the lockers, to then push him back into them full force, Jaune slowly sliding down to a seated position.

Yang pulled his head back by his hair, Jaune wincing in pain

"You better have it done by tomorrow or-"

the ringing of the bell cut her off, then followed by one of her friends, Weiss

"Yang, get your stuff ready, that loser isn't worth being late to Goodwitch's class"

Yang turned her head to look at Weiss, who had Blake and Ruby behind her. Jaune also turned to look at the trio, only to receive a turn of the head from Weiss, a solemn stare from Blake and a middle finger from Ruby. Yang grabbed Jaune's face and redirected it to herself, forcing Jaune to make eye contact.

"Tomorrow Arc" was all she said, before she left her crouching position to walk off with her friends.

Jaune sat pushed against the locker for a few minutes, before he picked himself up off the floor, using the lockers to lean on. he turned to face the locker he was at. locker 341.

'damn it, so close to freedom' he cursed to himself.

Jaune picked his books up from the floor, walked two lockers down to his, then spun the combination lock to open it.

'damn it, I was so close' he cursed himself again 'if only I'd made it to my locker, I could have gotten my books and got to class early, none of that would have happened'

Jaune walked the empty halls and corridors of his school on his way to class. as he reached the classroom, he opened the door to enter. clearly it had been a bad time, as Professor Port stopped one of his long lectures to turn to face the boy as he entered, clearly angry at the Arc.

"Jaune, why are you late?" Port questioned, while he wasn't yelling, his deep voice was threatening enough to scare Jaune.

"B-because" Jaune began, there was no way Jaune could tell anyone, he felt he had no one to talk to about it, let along admit that Yang was bullying him to a classroom full of students. In an odd display of luck, Port decided that he couldn't be bothered to hear an excuse from the Arc, and Jaune thought that maybe he might just be able to sit down and carry on with the lesson. That luck quickly ran out as Port told Jaune that he had to go to Ozpin's office.

Jaune left the classroom, and yet again walked through the empty hallways of his school to the principal's office. The only sound Jaune could hear was that of his footsteps as he walked through the empty hallways. his legs seemed to be on auto pilot and he soon wound up at Principal Ozpin's door.

Jaune lifted his hand to knock, but before he could, Ozpin called him in.

"Mister Arc, why have you come to my office?" Ozpin asked, his mug in his hand

"Professor Port sent me here after I was late to class...again"

Ozpin took a long drink from his mug, then lowered it back to the desk

"Jaune, this happens far too often, you miss classes of show up late for them, its seriously affecting your learning."

Jaune just stood infront of his desk and twiddled his fingers. Ozpin glanced at the clock on his desk.

"Jaune, its almost the end of the day, and I doubt Professor Port will let you back into his class, why don't you head home and get started on any work you need to catch up on?"

Jaune simply nodded and left his office and walked back to his locker to pack his things. As he walked to his locker, he walked through a crowd of students walking from class to class, unsurprisingly, none of them asked why he was out of class, and Jaune felt invisible as some students bumped into him as he walked. Jaune eventually arrived at his locker, packed his things, and began to walk out of the school.

The walk home gave Jaune a lot of time to think.

'Everyone hates you, nobody likes you, you're a failure at life and it's all your fault' he berated himself in his mind

'Now wait a minute, you can't think that of yourself, you're worth more than that' he argued in his head

'You're a push over, look how Yang and her friends treat you, you're pathetic, you don't even do anything back' his mind berated again

'Of course, you don't do anything back, Yang and her friends are assholes, and fighting back just lowers you to their levels'

Jaune was so deep in thought he didn't realise he had passed his house, and began walking back up the street to his front door.

When he arrived at his home, he was greeted with the sight of step-dad drunk on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" he groggily asked

"We finished early...thought I'd come home and start my work." Jaune explained

"I thought I told you not to come here, you're not welcome" his step-dad retorted

"Look...I know some things were said... but none of them meant anything" Jaune said, trying to keep himself calm.

"You ain't welcome here" his step-dad replied

"I'm just going to go to my room" Jaune stated, before walking down the hall and into his room.

Jaune sat on his bed in his room, the door closed and sat looking at the TV as it played static, him caught up in his thoughts

'Your life's a mess and you're pathetic, what a loser' the voice from earlier popped back into his mind

'Listen, all those people are jerks and what they say isn't true, now let's stop thinking about it, keep calm, and relax' his rational side said, as Jaune placed his hands behind his back and began to lay down. As his back pressed against the mattress, he felt an uncomfortable feeling in the centre of his back, and reached to feel what it was. Jaune pulled a piece of paper with a strip of tape on the top of it off his back, his eyes reading over the words on it.

'waste of space' written in blue, cursive letters.

Jaune just stared at the note, not blinking, not reacting. His brow then scruched and rage filled his eyes. He crumpled up the peice of paper and threw it at the wall, he then picked the TV remote up off his bed and through it at the small TV, causing it to fall of it's make shift stand of old boxes and smash on the ground

"I'M FUCKING SICK OF IT!" Jaune screamed at the top of his lungs, he then turned and began jumping up and down on his bed

"I'M FUCKING DONE!" he yelled as he bounced

He then bounced off the bed, landing on his feet to a loud thud, and began grabbing his clothes out of his draws and shoving them into his backpack

'I'm fucking sick of this place' he mumbled to himself as he did so

He then proceeded to stomp down the hall and towards the front door

"What are you doing?" His step-dad questioned

"You said I wasn't welcome here _Brad_ , so I'm leaving" came Jaune's reply, spitting out his step-dad's name

"You'll never survive out there" was all Brad responded

Jaune paused for a moment, then turned to face his step-father, and look him in the eyes

"Where ever I go, I'll have a better chance than if I stayed here" he said, not breaking eye contact, before turning around and walking out the door, his back pack flung over his shoulder.

Jaune's feet seemed to carry him to the one place he could only seem to go, the warehouses on the edge of town. Jaune's feet trekked through the tall grass as he approached one of the old warehouses, and he had to fit through a small hole in plywood to get in, but now Jaune was standing in the centre of his new home for the foreseeable future.

While it was empty, dirty, and only had a beat-up couch in it, Jaune had never felt so safe and home in a place. He approached the old couch, dropping his bag next to it and sitting down on it. It stunk, and somehow felt wet.

Jaune laid back on it, crossing his legs and placing his hands behind his head. As he drifted off to sleep, one thought reached his mind

'Welcome to paradise'

 **Well…hello**

 **This account…well this account is a mess. And I'm sorry for that. I went from commonly updating, to not updating, then, due to cyber bullying, I had a mental breakdown, deleted all my stories and completely changed the name. And for all that, I apologise, I should have been better. But I'm back now, with a re-write of my first story. While the chapters will be similar, expect there to be differences in the chapters and story, as my writing has (hopefully) gotten better. Much like the last story, this story will be a Band AU. I'm unsure when the next update will be, but I hope not too long, I am in my last two weeks of school before long holidays, so hopefully I will update during that time.**

 **Love,**

 **ASaintNamedJimmy**


	2. Chapter 2

Jaune didn't have the most graceful awakening the following morning, having rolled off the couch and onto the hard, dirty cement floor. He lazily pulled himself up off the floor, checking the time on his scroll, which had fallen out of his pocket and was neatly sitting on the couch cushions he was sleeping on.

'Oum its bright.' he thought as he brought his other hand up to his face, shielding his eyes from the bright scroll screen. '12:35...Certainly later than I'd like to have woken up.'

Jaune picked his backpack up off the floor, quickly scanning through it to make sure he had everything he would need before leaving.

'Clothes are in my bag, wallet is in my front right pocket, scroll is in my left pocket, notebook is...shit.'

Jaune searched through his bag rapidly, trying to find his little black book.

'...I must've left it in my locker.' Jaune realized. 'I was hoping to never have to go back to that place.'

Jaune accepted the fact that he would have to return to his school one last time, he didn't like the fact he had to, but he felt he couldn't leave without his little black book. Jaune quickly left his little paradise on the very long journey back to his personal hell. And so, he began his long walk through the tall grass, over the dirt, over the broken glass, and on the broken pavement. As he walked, he looked at his town, at all the houses, little stores, the bigger mall and the bridges and overpasses. He'd come to know the whole town so well, he'd grown up here, seen people come and go, some of them being just random faces, living their lives, and others being relatives. He thought about how he was going to become one of those people, one of the people that just came and went, he was in the background except for the times when he was yanked into the spotlight, but even then he just faded away again. He wondered if anyone would miss him, or notice that he was gone.

Jaune paused as he looked at his school, looking at the steps up to the front door into the corridors and halls.

'Here you go Jaune, one last time, in and out, real quick.'

Jaune quickly went up the steps and into the school. As he entered through the door, he noticed that much like the day before, it seemed empty, and barren of students. Jaune pulled his scroll out to check the time

'1:30, the last two periods have just started, so no one should be in my way as I go to my locker' Jaune thought to himself. He felt relieved, he wouldn't need to interact with anyone, and he'd be able to leave.

Jaune quickly went to his locker, and after a quick search, found his little black notebook on the bottom of his locker, under some useless textbooks he was never going to need again. Just as he had shut his locker he heard the sound of shoes clicking on the ground, and voices filled the hallway. Jaune turned to look where they were coming from, just soon enough to watch, Blake, Ruby, Weiss, and most worryingly, Yang, walk around the corner. The group stopped and looked at the blonde boy that was in front of them.

"Well hey there Jaune-y Boy" Came the call from Yang, a grin present on her face as she approach Jaune, the others behind her. "Glad to see you showed up today, rumour had it you had offed yourself last night, you know had bad rumours can be, right Jaune?" Yang asked condescendingly

"You mean like the one you started about me following the Malachites home and watching them shower?" Jaune responded through gritted teeth

Yang faked a gasp, the girls behind her laughing.

"Me? Never!" she faked offense "Anyway loser, whatcha got there?" She asked, reaching out to try to take the book from his hands.

"None of your business Yang" Jaune responded, holding the book away from her.

Yang took this opportunity to smack his scroll, which he had forgotten to put back in his pocket, out of his other hand. Everyone watched as it fell out of his grasp and shattered on the floor, the screen becoming a million unusable pieces. The group of girls began to laugh hysterically, at least Yang and Ruby were, Blake just had a grin and Weiss just shook her head at their actions. Jaune remained staring at the shattered glass that was now his scroll.

"Wow, you're a piece of shit, aren't you?" Jaune asked, as he looked up from the mess, to Yang laughing hysterically. Yang stopped laughing, her smile falling from her face, an 'ooo' coming from Ruby.

"Oooo, grew some balls did we Arc?" Ruby chimed in

"Shut up Ruby" Jaune fired back, breaking his eye contact with Yang momentarily to look at Ruby, before going back to staring down Yang.

Yang pushed her face to it was mere inches from Jaune's. She may have been 5 inches shorter than him, but she was still threatening as all hell. Jaune somehow managed to keep a straight face while being so close to something that was about to beat the absolute shit out of him.

"Jaune, I'm about to beat the absolute shit out of yo-"

"What are you students doing out of class!?" Came the voice of someone from behind the teens

Jaune had never been so happy to hear Professor Goodwitch's voice in his life. If there was one thing that was sure in life, it was that Goodwitch would send the group of teens back to class. She hated students out of class. Jaune celebrated in his head momentarily before realizing that in the eyes of Goodwitch and the school, he was still a student.

"Oh shit." Jaune and Yang both mumbled at the same time

Yang quickly backed away from Jaune, and like the other three girls behind her, stood up straight and looked at Glynda. Jaune slowly turned to face the Blonde professor. Weiss, being one to think on her feet, began saying her alibi for herself and her friends.

"Sorry miss, my friends and I were sent by Professor Peach to find Jaune." Weiss lied

"I see, well, what were you doing out of class, Mister Arc?" Glynda asked, turning to face Jaune

Jaune panicked for a second, before looking at the book in his hand.

"Just came to get my book for class, forgot I left it in my locker, silly old me." Jaune explained, a fake smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head. 'Still gotta put this fucking act on.' Jaune berated himself in his head.

Glynda wasn't an idiot, she knew that the group of girls weren't let out of class, most likely sneaking out or not even showing up to begin with, and she also knew that Jaune had not been present all day, as he had been marked absent on all the rolls for that day. Glynda decided that wouldn't give the students in front of her a detention, which to many would have seemed like a miracle, but in truth, she knew the situation Jaune was in, both at home and at school, and a detention would just add to that list of things to stress over. Glynda had never approached Jaune to help, nor intervened when an incident with other students, mainly the four across from him, happened. She hadn't at school as other teachers had said that Jaune had to stand up on his own, ad that doing so would teach him independence, and she had never approached Jaune about what happened outside of school as she felt it would be inappropriate of someone as herself so high ranking in the school to approach a student about their personal life.

'I do worry though.' Glynda thought to herself 'Next time it happens I will step in'

"Very well then, to make sure you five actually return to class I will escort you back to class" Glynda told them, beginning to walk down the hall, leading them to the music room they had come from.

The walk back to the music room was long and awkward, with the girls quietly talking to one another with a few laughs here and there, only to be glared at by Goodwitch which shut them up. Soon enough though they were lead to the correct room. As the girls entered the room, Glynda stopped Jaune at the door, making the two blondes the only people in the hallway.

"Jaune" she began "Remember that if needed, I'll be here for you."

Jaune stared at his professor, no emotion on his face as he looked at the older blonde's eyes. He then began to slowly shake his head, only breaking eye contact momentarily to look at the ground, before raising his eyes back to hers.

"Don't fucking lie to Me." he said coldly before walking into the classroom he'd been lead to.

Nothing too special happened during the last two periods of class, just people staring at Jaune, who was at the back of the class, Jaune staring back and writing more things in his notebook. Soon enough the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Jaune was one of the first out of the class, and since he already had his bag, one of the first out of the school. As Jaune began to take steps out of the school, he felt pain all up through his feet. It dawned on him that he had been walking a lot, for extended periods of time all day. Jaune turned to the main road by the school and stuck his thumb out, trying to hitch a ride. Many cars passed Jaune, and he felt he spent his whole day on the side of the road with his thumb out, but eventually a car stopped on the side of the road. Jaune approached the tinted window, very slowly the window was wound down to reveal the driver. He had silver hair, a collared shirt that was slightly unbuttoned and an off center cross necklace.

"Where you going?" the man asked. He had a low, gruff voice

Jaune knew where he wanted to go, but he doubted this guy would take him there, so Jaune said a nearby location.

"The convenience store on the corner of Stuart Street and 12th Avenue" Jaune said

The man paused for a moment, seeming to look out the window, staring forever

"Sure, get in" he said eventually

As Jaune walked away from the driver's side window, he caught a glimpse of someone in the passenger's seat, a very familiar someone, a someone with long, blonde hair.

'No.' Jaune thought to himself during the few steps from the driver's door to the door to the back seat. 'There is no way this is Yang and Ruby's car' as Jaune entered the back of the car, his fears were confirmed as a short red head sat on the other side of the back seat. All Jaune could do was grin a huge, snarky grin 'of fucking course it is, why wouldn't it be, why on earth would fate cut me a break and have it not be!'

"What are you doing here Arc?" Ruby asked, a look of disgust and horrified confusion on her face as she did so.

Jaune responded, a grin still plastered on his face.

"Hitching a ride."

Jaune thought the walk from his locker to the classroom was awkward, the car trip blew the walk out of the water. Jaune was just thankful that, somehow, Yang hadn't noticed Jaune was in the car, as she had her headphones on with the music up loud. Jaune silently thanked Oum when the car pulled up in the convenience store parking lot. Jaune left the car and walked into the convenience store, casually smacking the phone out of the hands of a man that stood next to the door. Once inside, Jaune immediately walked to the slushy machine, filled a large cup, purposely poured some on the floor, then walked out of the store, ignoring the cashier asking him if he was going to pay for the drink. Jaune walked across the large parking lot and into the liquor shop on the other side, grabbing some bottles of beer, and walking out again before any store worker could ask any questions.

Jaune scanned the large, empty parking lot, and spotted a blonde boy and a boy with dark crimson hair looking down. Jaune approached the two, and as he got closer he realized the duo were both Faunus, the blonde having a monkey tail and the red head having what looked like bull horns. As Jaune approached, the blonde looked over at him, seeming to stand up defensively. Jaune raised his hands slightly.

"Easy, easy, I'm not gonna yell at you or nothing"

That seemed to ease the pair.

"Sorry man, you can never be too safe, you know?" The blonde said

"Yeah man, I totally understand" Jaune replied "So what's up with you guys? You're looking pretty down"

"We feel there's nothing left for us here" the crimson haired one said, not taking his eyes from his shoes

"I feel the same." Jaune said, looking down at the sitting boy "I'm getting out of here." he continued

"Hey, this may sound weird, but do you think we could tag along?" the blonde standing across from Jaune asked.

Jaune turned his head and looked at the boy, then reached his hand out.

"I don't see why not, I'm Jaune by the why"

The blondes shook hands.

"Thank you so much man! I'm Sun! And my red headed friend here is Adam!"

Jaune handed Sun one of the beers, and placed one next to Adam on the curb. Adam looked up at Jaune, confused, before taking the beer and opening it alongside Sun.

"Sun, Adam" Jaune began, turning to face each boy when he said their names "This calls for a toast" Jaune raised he beer into the air, knocking it against his new found friends' beers "Here to getting the fuck out of Signal Town!"

 **Hello,**

 **I know I said that hopefully I'd update during my long holidays, and that is technically correct, today may be the last possible day for it to apply, but it still counts! I would have had this out sooner, but the USB I keep all my stories on became corrupted, so I had to restart. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I actually added Qrow this time, as last time he hadn't been revealed, and I honestly think, now knowing his character, it is going to help this story heaps, so that's a plus. This is the last of the prologue chapters, so next chapter will be in the future, and have a song (Just like last time). Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, following or favouriting.**

 **Love,**

 **ASaintNamedJimmy**


	3. Chapter 3

Lilac eyes fluttered open as the blonde girl woke up. Once her eyes had focused she was greeted with the sight of her younger sister standing in the kitchenette area of their tour bus.

"You fell asleep on the couch again" Ruby said, beginning to boil the kettle.

Yang gave a grunt in response.

"You know, sleeping like has got to be terrible for your neck" a raven-haired girl said, a book in her hands and a coffee sitting on the table in front of her.

Yang moved her head slightly to look at the girl sat on the couch across from her.

"That's big talk for someone on the ceiling" Yang responded, a grin on her face.

Yang lifted her head over the armrest she had fallen asleep on so now everything was the right way up again. She looked over at her sister as she approached with two coffees in her hand. Yang went to reach for one of the mugs, only to realised she had a drum stick in her hand. Yang laughed slightly as she dropped the stick to the floor, having a bit of trouble letting go of the wooden stick.

"You were practicing pretty hard last night, I was pretty worried" Ruby said

Yang smiled slightly and rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah, I was pretty intense last night, have to get ready for the show tomorrow, you know what I mean?" Yang explained

"I know what you mean Yang, but that was something else, what's up? It's clear you have something on your mind" Ruby said, having one of her very rare serious moments.

Yang knew Ruby better than anyone, and she knew that there was no way Ruby was dropping the subject until she got an answer she was happy with.

"It's just, what do you think happened to Jaune? We never saw him again, as far as we know he just up and left, he could be dead, hell, he might have been for the past 2 years!" Yang began, slowly beginning to raise her voice.

"I'm sure he's fine Yang, he probably came back to Signal town, finished high school, and is off with some boring job somewhere." Ruby tried to explain.

"But we never saw him come back!" Yang argued against her sister

"Because we left for our first tour! He could have returned right after we left for all we know." Ruby argued back.

"I just feel really guilty about it" Yang said, breaking the eye contact she had held with her sister.

Ruby placed a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine Yang" Ruby smiled at Yang

Yang smiled back "Thank you."

The sister's bonding moment was cut short as Qrow, their uncle and tour manager, walked into the living area of the tour bus, yelling into his scroll

"What do you mean you can't make it?! You can't find a way to make it to a RWBY show?! Are you crazy?! There's a show tomorrow and you're opening for them! Unbelievable!"

Qrow then hung up the scroll in the angriest way Ruby, Yang or Blake had ever seen anyone hang up a scroll. He took a deep breath, then turned to face the members of the band that were present.

"Well, we've got some bad news, the band that we had booked to be your opener for this whole portion of the tour just quit on us, but at least on the bright side, more money for us, am I right?" Qrow said in his usual low gruff voice.

Ruby let out a giggle, Yang smirked and Blake had a slight grin. Qrow seemed to always try and have a positive look on thing, even in the oddest way.

"Speaking of breaking bad news to the band, where's the ice queen?" Qrow continued

"I think she headed to the venue with the crew to help set things up." Blake answered, bringing the coffee to her lips. "I say help, I more mean watch over to see if something goes wrong." She continued.

This brought a slight chuckle from Qrow.

"Well I don't know about you, but I wanna walk around, stretch my legs, get to see the city we're playing in. Who's down to join me?" Ruby said, triumphantly standing up from the couch.

Yang laughed at her sister's adorableness. "Sure things sis, I'd love to."

"Yes!" Ruby fist pumped "Blake?"

Blake let out a sigh. "I was enjoying my book…but sure."

"Yay!" Ruby celebrated.

* * *

After finishing their coffees and a quick change out into their clothes, three fourths of RWBY and Qrow were out wandering around the town of Tutum.

The group wandered for a few hours, checking out little shops and cafes that were in the town. At one of the cafes, just through the frosted glass, Ruby spotted a familiar off centre pony-tail. Seeing that Weiss was not expecting them, Yang took her opportunity and ran up behind the white haired girl, grabbing her shoulders and startling her.

"Damn it Xiao Long! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Weiss screamed, turning to face the group of four behind her.

"Geez, mad already? We haven't even given you the bad news yet." Yang responded

"Yes I am mad for your informa- wait, what bad news?" Weiss said, yelling at first, but quieting down as she began to process what the blonde in front of her had said

"You know that band we had for our opener?" Yang began

"Yeah, Fanta Pants?" Weiss began

"Yeah, they cancelled on us" Yang continued

Weiss didn't respond for a second, seeming to stare off into nothingness for a few seconds. There was such a long pause that it legitimately began to worry the rest of the band. Ruby began to try to talk to her bandmate.

"Uh….Weiss?"

"Weiss Schnee? Chocolate croissant and a coffee"

Weiss suddenly turned on the heel of her boot and collected her order.

When she turned back around, she was greeted by the worried faces of her bandmates.

"Well, at least I have chocolate and coffee." She simply responded, holding her coffee in one hand and her bagged, baked good in the other. "Let's go walk around the town" she said, heading towards the door, her bandmates still shocked Weiss wasn't breaking down.

* * *

For a town, Tutum was quite large, with a high population came the need for lots of room. To some this may be seen as a hassle, more people means more traffic, more job competition and possibly more crime. But to Ruby, it just meant that RWBY got to play a show there, their record producer said that they should mainly focus on bigger, arena shows. Sure they could do a little one here and there, but the main priority was big shows. Ruby absolutely loved touring. The rush. The energy. The performing. The music.

As Qrow, Ruby and Weiss continued down the street, Yang and Blake fell a few steps behind, and began to talk.

"So Ice Queen seems awfully…calm" Yang said, interlocking her hands behind her head as she walked.

"I'm pretty sure that coffee and chocolate are the only things keeping her sane right now." Blake responded

Yang then began to speak louder, the three in front of them could hear. "But really, what are we going to do about an opener?" She continued. "I mean, will we even need an opener, we're pretty kickass already, we don't necessarily need someone to warm up the crowd, they'll be plenty warm when they hear us."

Just as Yang had finished her sentenced, they rounded a corner, and where stopped by a huge, neon green flashing light, which read 'The Fountain of Youth' and under it, on a messy, painted, cardboard sign taped to the bottom of the glowing one had written 'live music in here'.

Ruby turned to face her bandmates, a giant smile plastered on her face.

"Ruby…no" Weiss said slowly, knowing what Ruby was thinking.

Ruby just slowly nodded in response, the grin still on her face, then rushed into the venue, her bandmates and tour manager struggling to follow her.

* * *

The club was dark and smoke filled, and by the time any of the four had found Ruby, she had planted herself in what she had deemed the best position to watch the stage; not too far from the stage, but not too close either, just the perfect spot.

"Ruby no, you said you wanted to look around the town." Weiss began.

"But you heard Yang, we don't have an opener, and while we are good, we do need one, why not get some local talent to open the show for us?" Ruby energetically said.

"Ruby, we need an opener that can follow us through this entire leg of the tour, not just for one show" Weiss explained.

"I don't know Weiss, it might be cool to scope out the local talent, maybe give an up and comer a chance." Yang interjected.

"We'll put it to a vote, Blake what do you think?" Weiss said, getting a little frustrated.

"It would certainly be a solution to our current predicament" Blake calmly answered.

"It's settled! We'll check out the local stuff and see if there's anything we like!" Ruby said triumphantly.

* * *

There was not anything that RWBY liked.

Sure, there was good music, but nothing that jumped out at them, nothing exceptional, nothing that screamed 'One in a million' and with one band left to come on, the group really doubted there would be anything noteworthy in this bar.

"Its ok sis, we don't need an opener, we're plenty good on our own." Yang began to comfort her sister, but as she spoke the lights came up and the final band took the stage.

First was a blond monkey faunus, sporting an open shirt, ripped jeans, and three drumsticks in his hands, with small pieces of bright pink tape on the end of each one. Next was a crimson haired boy, with two small horns protruding from just under his hair line, he was carrying a dark crimson bass, which started a deep red in the centre, and generally faded to black as it reached the edges. Yang leaned over to Blake.

"Hey, it's a red version of your bass" she said, referring to the purple bass Blake owned.

Finally, the last member took the stage, he had saggy blonde hair, a black hoodie, ripped jeans, two helix piercings, and a daphne blue guitar hanging from the strap on his shoulders, the guitar covered in stickers, tape, and a few spots of missing paint. Yang thought for a moment, it was almost if she recognised that guy from somewhere. Those thoughts were brushed aside as the boy took to the mic.

"Good evening Tutum! We are a band called No Plan!"

The crowd cheered in response.

"This first song is called...Hitchin' a Ride!"

The crowd cheered again, louder this time.

He then stood up on one of the speakers near the front of the stage with his guitar resting on his shoulder, as if he was playing the violin, before smiling, dropping the guitar off his shoulder so it was back at waist level, and began to play the beginning of the song, the band playing with him.

The song was heavy, rhythmic and quite marching band esque. The pit began to move with a feeling that it hadn't had to any other band on the night, and Ruby defiantly noticed it, and it certainly peak her interest.

The blonde boy then began to sing.

"Hey mister, where you headed?

Are you in a hurry?

I need a lift to happy hour.

Say oh no.

Do you brake for distilled spirits?

I need a break as well.

The well that inebriates the guilt.

1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4."

The blonde then changed his playing from muted, controlled playing to large, open strums, but just as quickly as it arrived, the loud open chords went away, and the muted, building pace was back.

"Cold turkey's getting stale, tonight I'm eating Qrow.

Fermented salmonella poison oak no

There's a drought at the fountain of youth, and now I'm dehydrating.

My tongue is swelling up, I say 1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4."

Back came the open playing, but instead of going back to quiet, muted notes, the band launched into a chorus.

"Troubled times, you know I cannot lie.

I'm off the wagon and I'm hitchin' a ride."

As they entered another verse, the blonde stopped playing, leaving the drummer and bass player repeating the same riff over and over again.

"How's everyone doing tonight?!"

The crowd roared in response

"Who's looking for a good time tonight?!"

The croud roared again

"Well good, cause we're gonna give it to ya! So what I need is, everyone here to scream 1, 2. 1, 2, 3,4. You ready?!"

The crowd cheered, and the singer began to guide them with his fingers counting to four over and over again until it seemed as if the entire building was counting along. Just as the crowd finished counting for about the 7th time, the boy raised his hand in a slashing movement.

"Aaaaaannnnddd stop!"

And just like that the place went quiet for a few seconds, before the crowd began to woo and cheer.

"So this is what I need! This is what I need! I need everyone here to freak out." he abruptly ended, waiting a few seconds for the crowd to cheer. Just as the crowd began to scream and cheer, he stopped them.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, but first, I need everyone here to scream, 1, 2. 1,2,3,4 like we did before!"

The crowd began counting again, going through about 4 time before he lowered his hand again, silencing the crowd

"There's a drought at the fountain of youth, and now I'm dehydrating.

My tongue is swelling up, I say 1, 2."

"1, 2, 3, 4!" The crowd responded, and the place went ballistic. The band exploded with noise and the blonde began to play a solo, people slammed into each other on the floor, people cheered and screamed, and one thing was for certain. Not a damn person in that building was not on their feet.

"Troubled times, you know I cannot lie.

I'm off the wagon and I'm hitchin' a ride.

I'm hitchin' a ride. (Don't know where I'm going.)

I'm hitchin' a ride. (Don't know where I'm going.)

I'm hitchin' a ride. (Don't know where I'm going.)

I'm hitchin' a ride. (Don't know where I'm going.)

I'm hitchin' a ride. (Don't know where I'm going.)

I'm hitchin' a ride. (Don't know where I'm going.)

I'm hitchin' a ride."

The noise abruptly stopped and a clean tone took over the guitar. The blonde stood on one foot, leaning over slightly, and strummed a final cord, which officially ended the song.

The crowd was deafening as the blonde took to the mic to introduce the next song.

* * *

Ruby was buzzing with excitement.

"That. Was. Amazing!" She shouted, drawing some weird looks from other bar goes and the mass of people began to leave the bar.

"It was quite impressive." Blake said, much calmer than the red head.

"There was quite a lot of harmonies, which you don't see that often in that line of music." Weiss said.

"I think we just found our opening band!" Ruby yelled again. Ruby noticed that Yang had seemed quiet, and looked over at her to find the blonde staring off into nothing. "Yang? You alright?" She asked.

Yang snapped from her trance.

"W-what? Yeah. Yes. It's just….I feel like I recognise the singer somewhere, do you guys get that?"

Ruby thought for a moment, looking over at the boy in question, who was packing up the equipment with his bandmates.

"Nah. Never seen him before in my life." Ruby simply stated.

"Now Ruby, we should put it to a vote if we want to ask that band to open for us." Weiss began

"Well judging by the way you all spoke about them, and what we just saw, I say we're all for it." The redhead responded, before quickly walking over to the stage.

"Ruby wait!" Weiss yelled as she chased after her, but it was too late, Ruby had already reached the stage.

"Hey fellas! Hate to interrupt, my names Ruby Rose, I'm the lead singer of the band RWBY. I don't mean to brag but, you've probably heard of us, we're pretty big." She began, casually inspecting her nails, in an attempt to be, what she thought was, cool. "Well I saw your performance tonight and, as a band, we thought, 'Hey, those guys look pretty cool, and they play great too, we should give them the opportunity to play to a huge crowd!'" Ruby paused to take an over exaggerated breath, as she had been talking so fast she had forgotten to breath "Anyway, the point is, would you like to be our opening act for tomorrow night?" Ruby finished, looking to the boy she'd been speaking to, a grin plastered on her face.

Ruby's face fell as the boy turned to face her, and she finally got an up close look of his facial features. The defined chin and jaw, the shaggy blonde hair, and those piercing blue eyes. Ruby knew this boy.

"Holy shit! Jaune?!"

There seemed to be a silence between the two, all the other noise seem to have gone away as the two just stared at each other, blue meeting sliver. Neither of the two said a word, before, finally, Jaune let two words slip from his lips.

"Oh shit."

 **Hello!**

 **I was meant to have this out to you a few days ago, but unfortunately some work got in the way. But it's out now! And that's all that matters! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, if felt pretty strong when I was writing it, the parts with the description of the song and crowd interactions did feel weaker at the time of writing, but feel pretty good now. But what did you guys think? Leave a review and let me know! The song used in this chapter is:**

 **Hitchin' a Ride – Green Day**

 **More chapters coming soon, hopefully, stay awesome everyone!**

 **I really need a Beta reader, huh?**

 **Love,**

 **ASaintNamedJimmy**


	4. Chapter 4

Jaune just stared.

He just looked dead ahead, straight into the eyes of the girl in front of him, the ghost from his past. He slowly began to shake his head.

"No." he said to himself.

"No." he repeated, louder this time.

Adam approached from behind his bandmate, a questioning look on his face.

"Are you ok dude?" he asked.

Jaune's face suddenly turned to a scowl and he raised his voice, his arm shooting out to point at the girl looking at him.

"You stay the fuck away from me!"

And with that, Jaune quickly turned away from the redhead and stormed off the stage and out the side entrance. The slamming of the large metal door rung out through the mostly empty bar, and no one said a word of what they just saw. Until Sun emerged from behind the drunk kit, arms spread wide in questioning.

"What the fuck was that?"

"This redhead was talking to Jaune then he stormed off" Adam answered pointing at Ruby, his eyes locked on the door Jaune left through.

"And you just let him leave?" Sun questioned as we walked passed Adam and began to jog towards the door.

Sun stood in the doorframe as he scanned the area for the blonde, and cursed when there was no sign of him.

"He's not out there, what did you say to him?" Sun said accusingly as we walked up to Adam and Ruby.

By this point Ruby's bandmates had caught up to the redhead, and were also wondering what happened.

"Yeah Ruby, what happened?" Weiss asked.

The questions brought Ruby from her stupor

"I don't know! All I know is these-guys-played-an-awesome-show-and-I-came-up-to-offer-then-the-opening-spot-then-he-got-really-cranky-and-stormed-off!" Ruby answered, her arms waving in the air and her words running together

Sun just sighed in response, turned around and began to walk back to his drum kit.

"Come on, lets continue packing up and get back home, Jaune probably went there." he called.

"Didn't you hear her Sun? She asked if we want to open for their band." Adam asked

"I heard her Adam, when we find Jaune we'll discuss it as a band, like we always do." Sun responded as he continued to pack.

"Well..."" Ruby began "We'll just get out of your hair" She continued as she gestured to her band to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sun questioned sternly looking at the five as they left.

Ruby made a noise that was a mix between surprise from being called out and confusion as to why they were stopped.

"You made one of the three people who pack and move our gear leave, you better help us." Sun continued.

"Wha?" Ruby said

"He does have a point." Blake said dejectedly

Qrow chuckled from behind the girls.

"You heard him girls, best get to work." he said between chuckles

"You have to help too!" Yang cried

"Oh Yang, I'd love to, but I'm afraid I can't, ya know, old age and stuff." Qrow said, beginning to take a swig from his flak

"Hurry up, with so many of you it'll be quicker than usual" Sun interrupted.

* * *

Pack up wasn't as bad as Sun had thought it was going to be, the atmosphere was extremely awkward with the only ones really talking to each other being Sun and Adam, but the timing was amazing. It was by far the quickest pack up the band had had. Each member had taken to helping pack up their speciality; Blake and Adam packed the basses and bass amp, Sun and Yang tore down the drums and Weiss and Ruby backed Jaune's guitars and amp, and before they knew it, everything was packed and being wheeled out the door.

"Alright. All we have to do is wheel these back home then we're done." Sun explained as they entered the cool Tutum night.

"Is it far?" Yang whined

"It's as far as it is." Adam answered cryptically, and the group began to walk in silence.

During the trek, Ruby discreetly approached Weiss, who was pushing the guitar amp box.

"Weiss!" she whispered

"What is it Ruby?" Weiss answered

"You realise who's amp and guitars these are, right?" Ruby asked

"What are you talking about? Of course I do, it's Sun and Adam's bandmate's." Weiss answered matter of factly

"Well, obviously, but do you realise who that is?" Ruby asked

Weiss' lack of response gave Ruby the prompt to continue.

"It's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

Weiss' eyes shot open wide and she gasped in surprise. Weiss struggled to find an excuse when the rest of RWBY and No Plan turned back to look at her

"S-sorry, I just ran over my own foot" She lied

The two boys just mumbled their response and turned back to continue their journey.

"Are you sure?" Weiss questioned

"Well, I went up to talk to a blonde boy with piercing blue eyes, asked if it was Jaune and he flipped out at me saying for me to leave him alone, so yes, I a pretty sure." Ruby replied snarkily

Weiss immediately turned to her right to Blake, and whispered to get her attention.

"Psst, Blake"

"Yes?" she responded

"The Equipment Ruby and I have is Jaune's, as in, Jaune Arc's." Weiss explained

"I know." Blake responded stiffly

"I was shocked to- wait, what do you mean you knew?" Weiss asked, surprised

"I thought it was obvious, Yang said he looked familiar, Ruby goes up to him and he flips out, it's not hard to put two and two together."

"Oh." Weiss simply replied

"Why are you telling me this anyway?" Blake asked

"Well, it's just that we're going to their home, and he clearly won't be too happy to see us, and while I have the upmost faith in our tour manager-" Weiss gestured to Qrow, who had lagged behind the group still drinking from his flask and stumbling all over the footpath "I just want you to be ready for a bad situation...Does Yang know?" Weiss asked

"I don't know, I'll tell her if I get the chance, but she is the one that said she thought he looked familiar." Blake answered

The group then continued to walk in silence.

In an attempted to make the journey less awkward, Ruby tried to start a conversation.

"You guys haven't got many guitars, do ya?" She said

"What?" Sun asked, seeming annoyed

"It's just that there wasn't many guitars in the rack is all." Ruby explained

"Yeah, I noticed the same thing with your basses Adam." Blake chimed in

"We don't exactly have money to be buying guitars left and right." Sun said, continueing to push his load.

"I guess, but such a small collection limits your overall sound." Ruby continued

Sun merely shrugged "Good thing we've got a good sound then."

* * *

As they walked, the footpath began to deteriorate, cracks becoming more common than cement, and a foul odour became more prominent. Ruby had to hold her nose to avoid retching.

"How far out is this place?" Yang called out to the boys

"Just up here" Sun responded

The group then approached a large warehouse, with a large amount of people outside either talking or passed out.

"Watch your step" Adam called as he led the group inside

There was a surprising amount of people in the warehouse, beers and tables and furniture scattered around, and music blaring

"Having a party?" Weiss asked, having to raise her voice to be heard over the music.

"No." Sun simply replied, "It's always like this."

"Leave the stuff here." Adam responded as he rested his amp box against a wall in the corner of the warehouse, the members of RWBY letting out a sigh of relief at finally being able to stop pushing the gear around.

Sun approached the back of a yellow couch, where a guy and a girl were getting _quite_ familiar with each other.

"Yo, Nadir, have you seen Jaune around here?" Sun questioned

"No, not since you guys left your show." The man responded in the gaps between kisses he shared with the girl straddling him

"Alright, we're gonna go look for him, keep an eye on our stuff would ya?" Sun said

The man shot a thumb up from his position under the girl, who was now on top of him completely.

"Come on, let's go find our front man." Sun said to the group of musicians.

"We have to come too?" Blake questioned, sounding unimpressed

"Yeah, we've got a pretty good idea of where he is, and on our way there we can talk about that opener slot you mentioned before." Adam said, a grin on his face.

* * *

Jaune sat in a booth at a local coffee shop in Tutum. He had a coffee in front of him on the table, next to the coffee sat his black book. He bounced his pen off the pages as he stared into his drink, his mind wandering. His thoughts were stopped as he heard a familiar voice.

"I knew he'd be here!"

He looked up to see Adam and Sun, his bandmates and best friends squeeze into the seats opposite from him.

"Hey Jaune, we finally found ya" Sun said

Jaune smiled at this.

"Yeah, you did, I'm sorry I bailed back there, it's jus-" Jaune began, before Adam interrupted

"Yeah, yeah, just pack up our gear next show"

"Being fair, we had help" Sun added

"Help? Who helped?" Jaune asked

"That redheaded chick and her friends." Sun said gesturing to the door of the shop.

* * *

RWBY watched as Sun and Adam entered the shop before them.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go in?" Yang exclaimed, beginning to walk towards the door

Suddenly Weiss jumped in front of the blonde with her arms up. "Wait!" She yelled

"Ok….that was weird, what's wrong Weiss?" Yang questioned, an eyebrow raised at the shorter girl in front of her.

"You can't go in there!" Weiss responded

"What? That's ridiculous" Yang responded, trying to push her way around the white haired girl.

"Seriously! You aren't ready to go in there! Tell her Ruby!" Weiss called for Ruby's help

"I think Weiss is right sis, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go in there" Ruby chimed in

"You two are being ridiculous, move, I wanna go see their front man." Yang said, and began to walk through the two girl barricade Ruby and Weiss had set up, and upon entering, who she saw in the café made her freeze where she stood.

* * *

Jaune turned to look and what he saw stopped his heart. Standing in the doorway was Qrow, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang. The four women that made his life a living hell since the day he started at Signal High School. Blake and Weiss just stared, Ruby gave a weak wave, and Yang was frozen in her place, wide-eyed.

Jaune's blood began to boil, and he gave a death grip on the table. He wanted to scream, we wanted to shout, and cuss out the people in front of him for everything they did, from ruining every attempt he made to get a girlfriend, to forcing him to do their homework, to constantly beating him down every chance they got. Even the little wave Ruby sent his way made him want to spit in her face for having the nerve to do that after everything she'd done.

But he wouldn't.

Jaune's eyes drifted from each of his high school bullies' faces to around the shop. Families, friends, people living their life, he looked to the cashier, she was just running a business, she didn't deserve for such a scene to be made in her shop.

Jaune took a deep breath and looked back at his bandmates.

"I don't get why you stormed off, they just want us to open for them." Adam said

Jaune had to take another breath and focus on not exploding again. He'd explain exactly why he had stormed off, but not now, not while _they_ were there and could see the effect they had on him.

"Sun and I think it would be a great opportunity for the band" Adam continued

"So you guys have been talking about it?" Jaune questioned

"Only on the way over, we were waiting to find you and discuss it as a band first." Sun clarified

"You think it's a good idea Sun?" Jaune asked

"I was entertaining the thought, but if you have an issue with it we don't have to, we do things as a band." Sun answered

"Of course it's a good idea, the pay alone is worth 5 shows we do in bars and clubs, plus it's a chance to expose a whole different audience to our music" Adam interrupted

Jaune looked between his bandmates, the closest things he had to brothers. Adam was right, it would only lead to good, and extra money was always good.

"We can't just play dive bars our entire careers." Sun added, although mumbled.

Jaune processed that for a few seconds. While the band drew more than any band in the scene, they had stopped growing as much as they used to, they still had consistent audience numbers night to night, which was fantastic, but growth was a good thing in the music industry, and opening for another band would expose the band to new faces and possibly new fans. Jaune finally broke the silence that had fallen over the table.

"You guys are right, it's what's best for the band, and hell, it's only one night, right?"

A huge smile spread across both Adam and Sun's faces and Adam began slamming his hand on the table in celebration.

"That's the attitude!" he cried

Jaune then rose from the table and slowly walked over to the group of people he hated the most in the world, his bandmates by his side. He avoided looking at any of them aside from Ruby, who he looked down on because of the height difference.

"One night. One show. You need us more than we need you." he said coldly

Ruby's features brightened

"Awesome! You're gonna do amazing!" She celebrated

"I know. What are the details." Jaune said flatly

"Oh, yes, of course, Tutum arena, sound check is 4, doors open at 7, you go on at 8:30" Ruby said.

Jaune just nodded and walked passed the group, Yang still absolutely frozen.

* * *

The boys walked down the streets of Tutum, the only sounds being the howling of the winds and the sound of them walking on the cement.

"Where are we going now?" Sun asked

"Home." Jaune responded, "We've got a big day tomorrow."

 **Hello!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I really hope there isn't any spelling mistakes or wrong words or anything, because I always seem to find one after I post the chapter, hahaha. It felt a bit slow at the beginning, but as I started writing I felt it flowed more. I hope you guys had a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Crazy Kwanzaa/Cool whatever else. Also, happy new year! My resolution this year is to create more things; scripts, YouTube videos, songs, stories, whatever, just make more, so that means that if I stick to it (which I hopefully will) you guys will see more updates. As always thank you to everyone who reviews, follows and favourites, that's what motivates me to update.**

 **Love,**

 **ASaintNamedJimmy**


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